Yechury accuses BJP of communalising Sethusamudram issue

NEW DELHI: Maintaining that there was no scientific evidence of man-made structures in the Adam's Bridge area, a top Marxist leader has accused the BJP of taking recourse to faith to authenticate mythology as history and communalising Setusamudram and other issues to gain political advantage.

CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said the BJP, which had first sanctioned the Setusamudram project while in government, has been thoroughly exposed in its 'diabolical opportunism' by opposing the same project for 'political benefit through disastrous communal polarisation.

In an article in the latest issue of its party organ, 'People's Democracy', he said the Constitution, while protecting the right of the individual choice of faith, also seeks to encourage scientific enquiry and spirit. 'These cannot be and should not be counterpoised.'

Giving a 'materialistic' interpretation to the 'dasavataras', Yechury said this could be seen as 'a remarkable recording of the evolution of human life and its civilisational advance.'

Referring to fish, the first 'avatara', he said science has now confirmed that the first life forms evolved under water. Then came the tortoise representing the amphibian, capable of living both on land and in water.

This was followed by the boar which lived only on land. The next avatara was the Narasimha reflecting transition from the animal to the human form.